IN BRIEF (Page 14)

Retail

Bosideng triumphs in British business awards

Bosideng International Holdings Ltd, a Chinese men's fashion retailer, has won the Chinese Investor of the Year Award at the British Business Awards. It is the first time a Chinese clothing company has won the award. Bosideng is the first Chinese clothing retailer to set up a flagship store outside the Chinese mainland, opening its multimillion-dollar development just off Oxford Street in central London in July.

Camerich flagship store opens in Germany

The Chinese high-end furniture company Camerich has opened a flagship store in Cologne, Germany, taking the number of its overseas outlets to 43. The store, covering 630 square meters, is in Hohenstaufenring Street, one of the best-known furniture commercial areas in the world. Camerich already had outlets in Brussels, London, North America, Australia and Southeast Asia. It plans to open 200 overseas specialty stores by the end of 2016.

Auto

Dongfeng Motor sets up joint venture

Dongfeng Motor Co Ltd plans to set up a joint venture with Schmitz Cargobull AG of Germany to produce semi-trailers, with an investment of 600 million yuan ($96 million; 75 million euros). The two companies signed a contract in Wuhan on Nov 16. Dongfeng Smith Special Vehicles Co Ltd, apart from making and selling semi-trailers, will do research and development. It will be based in the Wuhan Economic and Technology Development Zone. The two companies will each have a 50 percent share in the project.

Volkswagen considers southern China plant

Volkswagen AG is considering building a manufacturing plant in southern China as part of its expansion into the world's largest auto market, a source familiar with the automaker's plans said. Shanghai Volkswagen, the automaker's passenger-car manufacturing joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp, may locate the factory in Changsha, Hunan province, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The plant would probably have an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles and cost at least 4 billion yuan, the source said.

Aviation

Private firm buys US aircraft maker

Zhuhai Hanxing General Aviation Co Ltd became the first privately-owned Chinese company to buy a US aircraft maker after completing a 100-percent takeover of Glasair Aviation LLC, of Washington state. The two sides declined to reveal the sale price, but Yan Jun, marketing director of Zhuhai Hanxing, confirmed at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, that the deal had been completed. Hanxing plans to introduce some of Glasair's technology into its aircraft-making operations in China, Yan said.

Airbus to conduct flights to test biofuel

European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company NV, parent of the aircraft maker Airbus SAS, and ENN Group, a bio-energy company based in Hebei province, have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together on technology that can be used to obtain biofuel from algae. They reached their agreement at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition. The partners will work to promote the use of biofuel in Chinese aviation. Their goal is to use flights to test algae jet fuel in China next year.

Energy

Shell vows $1b annual China investment

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's largest oil company, said it will invest about $1 billion (784.2 million euros) annually in its upstream businesses in China, a move based on the country's surging natural gas consumption. Cooperating with China National Petroleum Corp, Shell has two gas blocks, Jinqiu and Fushun-Yongchuan, in Sichuan province. The company has drilled 13 of 21 planned wells in Jinqiu, a project with a daily output of 110,000 cubic meters. It will complete the 21 wells by next April, the company said. In the Fushun-Yongchuan Block, the company is assessing whether its commercial development is a viable prospect. The block's 15-well drilling program is due to start by the end of this year or early next year.

CNOOC to agree to Canada's demands

CNOOC Ltd, China's biggest offshore oil and gas producer, has accepted management and employment conditions set by the Canadian government as it seeks approval for its $15.1 billion takeover of Nexen Inc, two people familiar with the matter say. Negotiators for the Canadian government adopted many of the conditions requested by the Premier of Alberta, Alison Redford, last month, including guarantees that at least 50 percent of Nexen's board and management positions be held by Canadians, the two people said on condition they not be identified because negotiations are confidential. Nexen stock jumped almost 7 percent last week, the biggest weekly gain since CNOOC bid for the Calgary-based oil company in July, suggesting investors are growing more optimistic the Canadian government will approve the deal.

Technology

iPhone5 available for pre-order in China

Chinese customers can now pre-order the iPhone 5, Apple's latest smartphone. Beijing Times reported that China Telecom, Apple's official partner, would open reservations for the device on Nov 20, about 10 weeks after it went on the market in the US. Apple did not place the Chinese mainland on the list of the initial group of countries able to sell the product immediately after its launch, but said it would introduce the phone to China in December.

Thermo Fisher sales in China on the rise

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc's sales of air quality monitoring products in the Chinese market have been growing, and account for 25 to 30 percent of the company's global air quality business, said Marc Casper, company president and chief executive officer. The company, one of the world's largest makers of scientific instruments, is a supplier of equipment to monitor PM 2.5 levels in China, and Casper said it has a market share of 80 to 90 percent in the country. PM 2.5 refers to fine airborne particles of less than 2.5 micrometers that are considered extremely hazardous to health as they go deeper into the lungs than larger particles.

Trade

Ukrainian corn to enter Chinese market

China and Ukraine have signed an agreement that will allow Ukrainian corn to enter the Chinese market by the end of the year, Mykola Prysyazhnyuk Ukraine's minister of agrarian policy, said. Ukraine is estimated to have the potential to export 12.5 million metric tons of corn in the 2012-13 marketing year. Of that, 3 million tons have already been exported, according to official Ukrainian data.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 11/23/2012 page14)